Arts and Culture

MPR News has you covered with news and stories about local art and culture happenings across Minnesota.

Art Hounds: Art Hounds are members of the Minnesota arts community who look beyond their own work to highlight what's exciting in local art. You can explore arts events here, or become an Art Hound today.

Art Reviews: Our arts team offers insight on the latest in theater, music, visual arts and more. We explore the breadth of creativity and innovation found throughout Minnesota, offering audiences a deeper understanding of the works and artists shaping our cultural landscape. Read more here.

Art Friend: Everyone needs an art friend. Art Friend is a new segment with our arts team. Art spaces can feel exclusive and art can be confusing, obtuse, and even boring. But, especially with the right context, everyone can be a critic. So let us be your guide- your Art Friend. Listen or read Art Friend stories here.

Our arts coverage is made possible in part by the Minnesota Legacy Amendment's Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund.

Innocence Lost: Searching for justice
For the survivors of CTC abuse, financial settlements are only a start on the work that needs to be done.
Art Hounds: Coco Fusco is haunted by history
Interdisciplinary artist Coco Fusco looks at Cuba's place in global consciousness. Plus, a group exhibition on the theme of death and one artist's five year project cleaning up Lake Hiawatha.
'The Great Pretender' investigates a landmark moment in psychiatric history
In the '70s David Rosenhan and seven "pseudopatients" went undercover in mental health wards. Their resulting article rocked the psychiatric world. But Susannah Cahalan struggled to confirm the facts.
In memoir, Nikki Haley hammers White House team but pledges allegiance to Trump
In “With All Due Respect,” the former U.N. ambassador says Trump's ex-Chief of Staff John Kelly and former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson asked her to help them "save the country" from the president.
Novelist doctor skewers corporate medicine in 'Man's 4th Best Hospital'
Samuel Shem's 1978 novel, “The House of God,” was a sardonic look at U.S. medicine through a young doctor's eyes. Shem's new fiction checks in with the same crew in the age of medicine by smartphone.
'Mama Hissa's Mice' creep through a dystopian future Kuwait
Saud Alsanousi's novel follows a group of Kuwaiti kids growing up in the 1980s — then jumps to a near future torn by sectarian violence. It's a resonant book that asks more questions than it answers.
In 'Some Of Us Are Very Hungry Now,' revelations morph into mirrors
Andre Perry's debut essay collection reads like a slightly fragmented memoir focused on the search for identity, the desire to write, and his constant sense of unease as a black man in Iowa City.
After comic Garry Shandling's death, Judd Apatow found Zen in his diaries
"He completely changed my life," Apatow says of his mentor. “It's Garry Shandling's Book,” which Apatow edited, explores the insecurities and personal trauma that Shandling turned into comedy.